Jake Paul has given his reaction to Anthony Joshua’s dramatic defeat to Oleksandr Usyk.
Joshua suffered a shock loss to Usyk, surrendering his world heavyweight belts in a unanimous decision at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
The 31-year-old was dominated from start to finish as he lost his IBF, WBA and WBO belts to the Ukrainian.
And unless he wins a rematch, he has kissed goodbye to his dream of fighting fellow Brit Tyson Fury in a heavyweight unification showdown.
After the fight, YouTube star Paul took to Twitter to express his dismay, revealing he had been rooting for Joshua.
(Image: Getty Images)
“Damn I’m shook, I wanted Joshua to win,” tweeted Paul, who has a 4-0 record since turning to professional boxing last year – albeit against a fellow YouTuber, a retired basketball star and two retired MMA fighters.
Joshua’s loss was just the second of his career after he was upset by Andy Ruiz Jr in 2019.
The Brit was badly hurt in the third round but battled on and inflicted a cut above Usyk’s right eye.
But Usyk had too much for him in a scintillating performance which made him only the third boxer to win world titles at cruiserweight and heavyweight, after Evander Holyfield and David Haye.
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(Image: ©Ian Walton Matchroom Boxing)
The Ukrainian won gold at the 2012 London Olympics before turning professional the following year and going on to become undisputed world champion at cruiserweight.
After taking Joshua’s belts, he now only needs the WBC strap currently owned by Fury to replicate the feat at heavyweight.
The 34-year-old has become renowned for being a technical genius with fast hands and has even been compared to Muhammad Ali in some quarters – even sharing a birthday with ‘The Greatest’.
Usyk who dominated from the off and landed the most telling punches in the opening exchanges, rocking Joshua with a powerful left hand in the third round.
(Image: Action Images via Reuters)
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Joshua responded with a good shot of his own in the next, before edging the fifth and sixth rounds.
Back came Usyk, tagging Joshua with two left hooks before knocking his rival backwards with a thundering straight shot to take control once more, despite suffering a cut above his eye.
He caught Joshua again in the ninth and the champion needed to dig deep and produce something special to remain king of the ring.
But it was Usyk who kept landing all the shots with that lazer like left hand to come within seconds of knocking Joshua out before the final bell tolled to leave the man from Watford dethroned and devastated.